Reviewing Qifu Technology (NASDAQ:QFIN) and Stronghold Digital Mining (NASDAQ:SDIG)

Qifu Technology (NASDAQ:QFIN) and Stronghold Digital Mining (NASDAQ:SDIG) are both business services companies, but which is the superior investment? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their profitability, valuation, dividends, earnings, risk, analyst recommendations and institutional ownership.

Volatility and Risk

Qifu Technology has a beta of 0.61, indicating that its stock price is 39% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Stronghold Digital Mining has a beta of 2.79, indicating that its stock price is 179% more volatile than the S&P 500.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of recent ratings and recommmendations for Qifu Technology and Stronghold Digital Mining, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Qifu Technology	0	0	2	0	3.00
Stronghold Digital Mining	0	2	1	0	2.33

Qifu Technology currently has a consensus target price of $24.85, suggesting a potential downside of 1.39%. Stronghold Digital Mining has a consensus target price of $5.83, suggesting a potential upside of 19.05%. Given Stronghold Digital Mining’s higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Stronghold Digital Mining is more favorable than Qifu Technology.

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Qifu Technology and Stronghold Digital Mining’s gross revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Qifu Technology	$2.29 billion	1.77	$603.58 million	$3.86	6.53
Stronghold Digital Mining	$74.97 million	1.01	-$71.40 million	($4.72)	-1.04

Qifu Technology has higher revenue and earnings than Stronghold Digital Mining. Stronghold Digital Mining is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Qifu Technology, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

74.8% of Qifu Technology shares are held by institutional investors. Comparatively, 19.3% of Stronghold Digital Mining shares are held by institutional investors. 17.1% of Qifu Technology shares are held by insiders. Comparatively, 47.6% of Stronghold Digital Mining shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, large money managers and hedge funds believe a company will outperform the market over the long term.

Profitability

This table compares Qifu Technology and Stronghold Digital Mining’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Qifu Technology	28.06%	21.82%	10.30%
Stronghold Digital Mining	-7.61%	37.35%	12.64%

Summary

Qifu Technology beats Stronghold Digital Mining on 9 of the 14 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Qifu Technology

Qifu Technology, Inc., through its subsidiaries, operates credit-tech platform under the 360 Jietiao brand in the People's Republic of China. It provides credit-driven services that matches borrowers with financial institutions to conduct customer acquisition, initial and credit screening, advanced risk assessment, credit assessment, fund matching, and other post-facilitation services; and platform services, including loan facilitation and post-facilitation services to financial institution partners under intelligence credit engine, referral services, and risk management software-as-a-service. The company also offers e-commerce loans, enterprise loans, and invoice loans to SME owners. It serves financial institutions, consumers, and small- and micro-enterprises. The company was formerly known as 360 DigiTech, Inc. and changed its name to Qifu Technology, Inc. in March 2023. The company was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Shanghai, the People's Republic of China.

About Stronghold Digital Mining

Stronghold Digital Mining, Inc., a crypto asset mining company, focuses on Bitcoin mining in the United States. It operates in two segments, Energy Operations and Cryptocurrency Operations. It also owns and operates coal refuse power generation facilities; and provides environmental remediation and reclamation services. The company was incorporated in 2021 and is headquartered in New York, New York.